Read Novel Full Chapter 402: Stars rain
Chapter 402: Chapter 402: Stars rain
Chapter 402 – Stars Rain
Everything became blood and ripped flesh.
The instant Rea agreed, Reditha was already grazing the flesh of the wolfkin, his skin sputtering then bubbling like hot water beneath the burning blade of Reditha.
The beast’s eyes widened — pure, unfiltered shock swallowing him whole — unable to believe Kaden’s speed.
Before he could react, Reditha sank deep into his neck, tearing flesh, bone, and sinew alike, severing it from his body with cold lethality.
In the same motion, Kaden’s right foot pressed down atop the wolf’s head. His blood control surged, and the beast was impaled by dozens of blood spikes erupting from its own body.
A pained howl, carried on a dying breath, barely escaped its splitting throat before death claimed its soul.
Kaden reached out with his right hand and took the severed head of the wolfkin. At a simple touch, it transmuted into a blob of blood.
The blood rose upward, where the rest of the wolf’s spilled blood was already waiting.
A cloud of blood formed.
From it, Prometheus created small flying insects shrouded in his own flame. They were numerous, buzzing with flapping wings like livid, living things.
Kaden ordered them forward, sending them flying out through the hole and straight toward the city below.
Soon, explosions began to echo.
All of this happened in less than ten seconds.
Kaden turned his head, sparing Rea a glance over his left shoulder. Wordlessly, he smirked tauntingly then vanished into a blur of crimson, Reditha in his right hand.
Already, roars of shock and fear were reverberating throughout the city, though they were rapidly silenced.
Reditha was hungry for blood.
Rea was left behind. She popped her head from side to side, a small, manic grin plastered across her lips.
"Einar," she whispered.
"Yes, my beautiful Rea."
"Did he just provoke me?"
"It seems so."
Rea laughed, then took a step. Space blurred. In an instant, she was out of the hole, hovering high above the city.
The God-Touched looked like a goddess at that moment.
She gazed downward, watching blood burst and smear the world below, the carnage still spreading. Anyone who was a wolf was killed mercilessly.
Only humans were spared. And even then, Kaden mainly spared the utterly helpless and the elderly mortals.
The ground was soon carpeted with puddles of blood, then rivers...soon, a sea threatened to flood the city.
Buildings exploded into torrents of ash, the ground quivering with each of Kaden’s steps like a living thing writhing in pain.
He was impossibly fast.
Rea could only glimpse the blur of his body and flashes of his sword whenever he struck.
A chill crept along the back of her neck.
Then suddenly, the God-Touched noticed something.
All the spilled blood was converging in the air, suspended in complete stillness.
Just above her.
She watched in awe as crimson-gold flames linked each droplet together, forming a brilliant tapestry of dread and gore.
Already, she could hear the flapping wings of crows eagerly descending upon the city.
The fear emanating from below was staggering, the kind of fear Rea loved to bathe in.
As she watched the beak of a phoenix begin to form from blood and flame in the sky, she gathered all the fear of the city and amplified her power to impossible levels.
Mana. Endurance. Understanding. Strength. Even Will.
Everything surged.
Her body trembled in euphoric rapture.
The phoenix’s beak stretched wide, a ball of white fire coalescing deep within its throat.
The temperature spiked violently, waves of scorching air crashing downward.
Rea, hovering just beneath the beast, raised both hands and formed a sigil resembling a footless bird.
Her voice rang out as the phoenix’s breath erupted from its jaws and plunged into the city below.
"Bloom of Fear."
The city became fire and blood.
Within those Rea targeted, something began to bloom inside their chests.
A flower.
A flower nourished by fear, feeding upon it while devouring everything within its host, like a leech siphoning life itself.
In the end, only skeletal remains were left behind, a beautiful grey flower blooming from each chest.
And then, even those remains were reduced to ash as fire flooded the city like a deluge.
Kaden stood amid the inferno, untouched, and even reveling in it.
With each kill, he extracted the Origin Core of his victims, intending to saturate his own.
He was in the midst of tearing one apart, his hand drenched in blood, when he froze mid-motion.
"HOOOOOWLLLLLLL!!"
A thunderous, mournful howl tore through the city.
Kaden and Rea snapped their heads toward the sound.
There stood an enormous wolfkin, eyes blazing with hatred as he stared at them.
The aura rolling off him was staggering. At a glance, Kaden knew it was Epithet Realm.
And he was not alone. Beside him stood a wolf of equal rank.
Two Epithet-rank beings.
Kaden smiled and cracked his neck.
"Well, no time to waste," he muttered, deciding to end this quickly.
He straightened, closed his eyes, listening to the howls and growls as both wolfkin and beast charged him at searing speed.
Overhead, the sky above the city darkened unnaturally.
Crimson stars blinked open within the void like watching eyes, bathing the ruined city in red light as if it were already burning.
Rea watched, dread tightening her chest. Einar herself was frozen, unable to speak, staring in terror as...
"Stars Rain."
Kaden’s voice echoed like that of a god.
The sky cracked open, as if torn apart by colossal hands.
Crimson stars began to fall like rain, cleaving through the air with shrieking force.
It felt as though the sky itself was collapsing.
Yet Kaden stood unmoving, eyes closed, welcoming the Stars Rain he had summoned.
They struck.
The ground ruptured. Earth surged upward, fire erupted. Thick clouds of crimson dust swallowed the city whole.
Rea’s heart leapt into her throat in utter disbelief.
...
Kaden stood amid rubble, ash, and blood, his eyes resting on the twin corpses of the wolfkin and its accompanying beast wolf.
There were no wounds on him, no strain on his clothes, despite the harrowing events that had just transpired.
Despite the ferocity of his assault, Kaden had once again let the innocents escape, unwilling to stain his hands with more blood than necessary.
Steps crushing stray rocks made his ears twitch. Kaden didn’t turn his head, already knowing who was approaching.
"You are stronger than I expected," Rea said, now standing to Kaden’s right, her ruby eyes fixed on the same sight as her fiancée.
"Well, I guess you’re not so reluctant to let me tag along with you now?" Kaden smiled faintly.
"I admit it’s more reassuring to have someone strong beside me."
"True. That talkative woman of yours is completely useless, I bet."
"What?!" Einar bellowed, outraged. "I will have you know that—!"
Rea clamped a hand over Einar’s mouth, cutting her off. Still, Einar struggled, intent flaring as she tried to speak again.
A single hollow glare from Rea made her freeze.
A soft whimper escaped her before she dissolved into tendrils of smoke and retreated back into the earring.
Kaden, meanwhile, was already kneeling. If he noticed anything, his face showed none of it.
He was collecting the Origin Cores of both the wolfkin and the wolf.
Tilting his head, he pondered how the blood around might still be put to good use.
Among the information Blanche had provided was the fact that Sora’s coronation as Empress of the Celestial Empire would take place tomorrow.
Kaden couldn’t help but laugh, finding it difficult to reconcile the image of Golden Voice with anything other than a spoiled princess.
Nevertheless, since the situation in Silver City was largely his fault, he intended to take responsibility and leave a congratulatory gift behind for Golden Voice.
Having decided, Kaden began immediately, all while Rea watched him with heavy scrutiny.
Strangely, despite the city’s destruction, a song was still playing.
A song of regret and love.
Its voice sounded eerily familiar to Kaden.
With Rea urging him onward and no time to dwell on it, Kaden finished preparing his gift and vanished together with her.
Behind them, only blood and death remained.
As they traveled, Rea couldn’t help but voice the question gnawing at her mind.
"What was that?" she asked, eyes narrowed with clear displeasure. "And who was it for?"
Kaden didn’t seem to notice her tone and answered lightly,
"A gift," he said. "For an aspiring singer."
—End of Chapter 402—